Raul Garcia, a writer, director and animator of animated movies, adapted five great stories of Edgar Allan Poe into five short animated movies, banded together by graveyard conversation between Poe (Stephen Hughes) in a form of a raven and Death (Cornelia Funke). Each story uses different animation technique and Sergio de la Puente composed original music which fits perfectly with their mystical atmosphere. In the first segment, Christopher Lee tells famous "The Fall of the House of Usher", followed by strange but striking computer animation. The second part brings archive footage of legendary Bela Lugosi reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" with black and white animation that feels like a negative. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", narrated by Julian Sands, is done in comic-book style. Guillermo del Toro presents an internal monologue of the prisoner in the Inquisition dungeon, from the story "The Pit and the Pendulum", with video game type of animation. The last story brings "The Masque of the Red Death" in the form of a moving aquarelle and without narration. And, just for a brief moment, Roger Corman gives voice to Prince Prospero. Considering that all together lasts just a little over one hour, stories are very reduced, so connoisseurs and fans of Edgar Allan Poe might resent them as butchered, while those ignorant of his work could have troubles understanding them, especially last two. But if you read these stories, or at least saw movie adaptations and roughly know what are they about, and if you are not nagger trying to find faults in everything, you'll enjoy the magically gloomy and dreary atmosphere of this really extraordinary movie.
8/10
8/10